Postcards from the Black Country
After the end of the first UK Lockdown in 2020 I was, like a lot of people, eager to get out and about again. I started by visiting my daughter's new apartment in Brierley Hill, near Dudley. It's about 8 miles up the road from where I live in South Birmingham, but it's across that unseen border that divides Brum from the Black Country. The Black Country is a somewhat nebulous area that encompasses four synchronous metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The people and places therein share a distinct and fascinating history of industry and endeavour. I found myself really gravitating to the area and soon began exploring and documenting what I found along the way. The people are a class apart; warm, friendly and quick to accept Brummie interlopers such as myself. 'Postcards from the Black Country' has evolved into my longest running project, it continues today as I explore more of this vast region. I have no set ideals or agenda with what I am depicting, I am simply exploring and photographing what I find, in the hope that the images I make speak to the character of places that I have visited. These images are a mix of street photos, urban landscapes, portraiture and urbex photography, woven together into a unique scrapbook of the Black Country for the 21st century.